Home Value Downdraft Near Santa Monica Airport?

Santa Monica is a quaint beachfront town with an easygoing lifestyle that includes almost-daily farmers markets, green buses, and a strong school system -- all things that lend it strong real estate appeal.

One problem that's plagued Santa Monica Real Estate, though, and particularly neighborhoods like Sunset and Ocean Park, is the sound of aircraft from Santa Monica Airport. Locals claim recent routes have made the noise worse, as have increases in the number and size of planes that land there -- noise from prop planes is not the same as from private jets, which are rising in number.

The Los Angeles Timesreports that the Federal Aviation Administration is testing a new route which would take planes over certain neighborhoods in foggy and cloudy weather. That has local residents worried about possible effects on the quality of life which already is believed to have eroded because of FAA practices.

With its proposed routes agitating citizens -- and the property market already struggling -- is Santa Monica Airport going to be a growing problem for Santa Monica real estate?